The Daily Applications of Domestic Science
by Lieju
Summary: Glimpses of the normal daily life of GLaDOS, Chell and their cyborg daughter CaTHY.
1. The epic tale of Hypatia's adventure

**A/N:This began with this doodle of what GLaDOS's and Chell's daughter would look like: lieju . deviantart art / CaTHY-309546397 (remove spaces). And this grew from that idea.**

* * *

"CaTHY, I'll tell you a story."

The cyborg looked at her mother (or one of them), interpreting her hand-gestures. Her human mother had insisted they didn't upload that skill to her memory banks so that the girl learned sign language the old fashioned way. GLaDOS had called it ridiculous.

"CaTHY is not old-fashioned, like you. She is an improved version. True, her DNA might be mostly based on you but you might notice the cybernetics? She lacks your limitations."

However, she hadn't included it in any of the language-updates she had downloaded to the mechanical part of CaTHY's (Cybernetic and Technological Humanoid Youngster) brain.

"I know stories," CaTHY insisted. "And if I want more I can always download any I want from the main computer. "

Chell shook her head, smiling; she signed the words "It's not the same. Besides, I want to tell you a bedtime story. Humor me."

"Hm."

"Besides, you won't find this story in the computers."

"Really?" That got her interest. Always ready to learn more, this one.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess." Chell began, but was quickly interrupted.

"How original. I have," her human eye got a faraway look when she accessed her computer-memory, the light in the optic of her headpiece flashing. "146 variations of fairy-tales in my memory that begin with those exact words."

"That's just the beginning of that story."

"Was she just a princess? Isn't that a title, not a job? How old was she?"

"Well, her dad was a king, but she didn't much care about the title. So she didn't use it."

"So what was her name? If she didn't use the title, why are you calling her 'princess'?"

"Why don't you name her? Suggest a name."

"Hypatia." The girl answered.

"Hypatia?"

"Yeah." She looked her mother in the eye, challenging her to disagree with her choice.

Chell smiled, recognizing that expression. It was one she had given GLaDOS countless times.

"Fine, Hypatia it is. She never liked being confined to one place, and so wandered around, looking for adventure. She was quick on her feet, and good at solving riddles and fighting monsters. Once she came of age-"

"What age?"

"18. Her dad wanted her to marry, and while she wasn't too eager, she loved her father, and told him she would marry, but only once she'd find a husband she loved and who could rule the country together with her. But before that happened, an evil dragon attacked the kingdom, scorching the earth, spewing toxic gas everywhere, turning the kingdom to a land of death."

"What did the dragon look like?"

"She had huge bat-like wings, tough skin like white metal, a powerful tail that could destroy mountains with one swipe and sharp claws on her hands and feet."

"How big was she?"

"Bigger than an elephant."

"About the size of Gladdy's main body?"

Chell smiled at CaTHY's nickname for GLaDOS. It had began as a mispronunciation, back when CaTHY's body and her reflexes hadn't fully developed, and despite having the knowledge of language downloaded directly to her brain, she was unable to pronounce things properly. Chell had thought it was cute, and encouraged her using it, and to GLaDOS's chagrin, it had stuck.

"Yes, it was about that size."

"So how could she fly?"

"Magic. Now are you letting me tell the story?"

"Gladdy says that you need to be ready to accept criticism and be glad that people are willing to point out your shortcomings."

"Sounds like her. Anyway, Hypatia took her sword and shield to defend her home alongside her father's army. But one by one, the dragon's magic breath turned the soldiers into stone. Finally it was just Hypatia, and with a mighty strike, she plunged her sword to the dragon's heart, but was wounded herself, and fell down."

CaTHY looked disappointed. "That's it?"

"No, this is merely the beginning. The dragon's magic was powerful, and it fell over the whole kingdom. A great sleep took over the land, and the tiny white imps that were the servants of the dragon came to their mistress, but were unable to wake the sleeping dragon. So they carried princess Hypatia to the highest tower, and sealed her in, and waited. And waited and waited, and slept for a hundred years."

"Like Sleeping Beauty."

"Yes. There was a lot of magic like that around back then. And like with Sleeping Beauty, the word about the sleeping princess guarded by a dragon and her army of imps spread, and many adventurers; princes and knights, came from around the world, but were shot by the imps with their bows and arrows, or driven away. And over time, people started avoiding the place, and eventually forgot the princess was more than a fairy-tale. And finally the castle started to be taken over by vegetation.

Then one day, a wandering prince from a faraway country overseas found his way to the castle. By this time the castle walls had crumbled on many places, so he could, mostly by accident, avoid most of the traps and imps.

So he explored the castle, and eventually found the princess in the highest tower. "

"Let me guess, he woke her up with a kiss?" The little cyborg sounded disapproving. "If some guy I never met did that to me I'd bite his nose off."

"Reasonable enough. But this prince had good manners, and instead woke the princess by poking her with a stick."

"How did that break the spell?"

"It was a magic stick. Anyway, the prince woke her up, telling her they'd need to work together to get away. And so they did, making their way through the castle, Hypatia defeating the traps and imps, and the prince providing moral support. Eventually they reached the chamber where the dragon lay in her sleep. And then the prince made a mistake."

"What?"

"He removed the sword form the dragon's heart, and the beast woke."

"Why did he take it?"

"He saw the sword and wanted it. Because he only had the stick."

"It was a _magic _stick, though." CaTHY noted.

"So the dragon woke up, and she was angry. And with a magic blast she struck down the prince and turned her attention to the princess. And with one swipe of her tail she defeated Hypatia."

"Did the prince die?"

"You'll see."

"So no."

"Hypatia was carried by the imps to the dungeons and was imprisoned there. Later the dragon came down to gloat. Each day she would come down, and mock her and point out her failures and make up new ones, and blame Hypatia for everything bad that had happened, but Hypatia would just stay silent. The dragon would put the princess through dangerous traps and Hypatia would just escape from them, never saying a word. The dragon grew angrier and angrier.

Hypatia didn't care about the insults. She wasn't offended or hurt. And in fact she started to anticipate the daily visits from the dragon. And over time, she saw that the dragon was in pain. She would come to the dungeons, every day, and rest of the time sit in the throne room, alone."

"Why didn't she spend time with other dragons?"

"She was the only dragon."

"How?"

"She hadn't been born a dragon. She had been human first, a queen reigning over her kingdom. But an evil wizard had decided to take over the country, so he cursed the queen and turned her into a dragon that had to destroy everything and cause misery, or be in pain herself."

"Could those bad guys be from Black Mesa? They're jerkfaces."

"Okay, they can be. Not that they are going to come back in this story. But despite his curse, the dragon stayed in the castle, instead of finding new lands to destroy. And she didn't know why. Instead she'd every day go to the dungeon, to mock Hypatia. But after it she felt a bit better, and wasn't even sure why.

And over time, her insults became less harsh, since Hypatia didn't seem to care either way. And instead the dragon started to talk about things, of lands she had seen, what little she could remember about her life as a human… And Hypatia just sat there, listening.

But more the dragon talked about her life as a human, the more she remembered, and it pained her, so she stopped coming. And Hypatia started to miss her.

She still put her through the torture-chambers, though, but she started to get careless, and one day the prince managed to break into one of them, and he let Hypatia out so they could escape."

"Where had he been?"

"He had been hiding in the dungeons. But he needed Hypatia's help to escape, so they trekked through the castle together, running from the imps, the princess protecting the prince. Eventually they reached the chamber where the dragon lay. But the dragon was weak, almost skin and bones. Hypatia was shocked to discover her in such a condition. She stood there, not knowing what to do. But then the prince made his move. He plunged his magic stick to the dragon's breast, where the sword had been. And he took her power."

"How? How did he know how to do that?"

"He knew some magic. Enough for that. "

"Why didn't he do it before?"

"Maybe that's what he tried to do when he first woke the dragon by pulling the sword out. Anyway, the power was strong, and ancient and cursed, so he was overwhelmed by it, and couldn't resist its influence. He used his new magic to take revenge on the dragon, by turning her into a tiny lizard, and opening a huge chasm and throwing her in. But when Hypatia saw this she jumped after her, diving after her ex-captor.

They fell and fell, for what felt like ages, until they stopped in the dark."

"How did they survive? Did they have Long-Fall Boots?"

"No, but the dragon-turned-lizard had still a small amount of magic, and used it to soften their fall.

And together the two climbed and climbed, Hypatia carrying the lizard and protecting her from birds. At first the lizard talked, throwing mean comments, but half-heartedly, and eventually she fell silent, contemplating her situation. Finally after a long journey they got into the castle."

"What did they eat?"

"They could find underground rivers, and ate fish. They fought their way through the castle-"

"What about the imps?"

"They were working for the prince now. And speaking of him, during the time they had been underground, he had gone completely crazy, and forced by the curse to spread his corruption on the surrounding countryside. Hypatia had to fight him, for his sake as well, as he wasn't in full control anymore. So she and her companion made their way to the throne room.

And there he was, eyes bulging with madness, and crackling with evil power. Then the lizard spoke: 'You cannot win against him with your power. You need to trust me. You think I'll betray you. And on any other day, you'd be right. But now I'm free of the curse. I've heard voices all my dragon life. But now I hear the voice of a conscience, and it's terrifying, because for the first time it's my voice.

I'm being serious, I think there's something really wrong with me.

You like revenge, right? Everybody likes revenge. Well, let's go get some.', The lizard said."

"I have to agree with her." CaTHY nodded. "The prince deserves to have his butt kicked."

"So, the lizard shielded Hypatia with her power, so that she could get close to him, to kick his butt. She took the magic stick and whacked him over the head with it, forcing the power out of him. The power surged out, flooding the room. Hypatia looked at the poor lizard on her arms. She lay lifeless, all of her power spent. It was her only option; Hypatia threw the lizard in the magic, and the energy filled her. A flash of light was the last thing the princess saw before passing out."

"What happened when she woke up? She did wake up, right?"

"She did. And when she woke up she was greeted by the magnificent form of the great dragon, returned to her former glory. She told the princess to leave. 'You know what my days used to be like? I just conquered lands and destroyed lives. Nobody murdered me. Or turned me to a lizard. I had a pretty good life. And then you showed up. You dangerous, mute lunatic. So you know what? You win. Just go.'

And she did. Just to be certain she was really free to go. But once she was free of her power, Hypatia turned, and returned.

'You came back. You really must have brain damage. Only someone like that would-'

But she fell silent when Hypatia placed a kiss on her dragon snout. The dragon called it foolish human bonding behavior, but she didn't object when Hypatia kissed her a second time."

"Did they live their life happily ever after?"

"No. Only silly stories end like that. Real life, and interesting stories end with the knowledge that life continues, with its ups and downs. They had more ups than downs, though. Cured by most of her curse, the dragon let the kingdom return to normal and healed the land with her magic. She still stayed a dragon, though, but since she had been one for so long, she thought of it as her real form anyway. She and Hypatia got married and ruled the kingdom together. They even got a half-human half-dragon daughter with magic."

"What about the prince?"

"He was exiled. But he apologized, so Hypatia forgave him, since he had been under the evil magic's influence. He did his best to avoid the dragon, though, since she wasn't as forgiving."

"Did they go and conquer the evil kingdom of Black Mesa together?"

"Maybe. You might hear a new story some other night."

"It was an okay story. For a fairy-tale. The characterization was weak, though, and the world-building unsubstantial, but it was okay."

"Nice to hear. Now plug in for recharging and set your processor to sleep-mode."

"Mommy? Can you do it?"

Chell tucked her daughter in, and opened the panel on the robotic side of her face to plug the cable hanging from her bedroom wall in. Then she gave two goodnight kisses on CaTHY's forehead: one on the human side of her face and one on the robot part.

"Goodnight" She signed.

"Goodnight", was the sleepy reply, as the little cyborg drifted to sleep.


	2. A scientific Christmas

GLaDOS didn't like Christmas.

Not that she disliked it either, it wasn't particularly important to science, but it didn't tend to interfere with it either.

Her internal calendar had always kept her informed of the date, but hadn't paid holidays any mind. Testing had been far more important.

No, testing was _still _the most important.

But now there were…

Other things to consider.

This was the first Christmas she'd be spending with Chell and CaTHY. Last year had been the first Christmas after she had replaced [TEST SUBJECT] with 'Chell' in her official logs and files, but back then the human hadn't yet lived in Aperture.

She had spent most of her time outside, presumably with _people,_ and presumably had been doing some useless Christmas stuff with them. Something she would be likely inclined to do, if Aperture wouldn't be suitably festive this year.

And then there was CaTHY.

It had begun as an experiment; since clearly humans were superior to robots when it came to testing, but there were certain advantages to robots as well, some kind of mixture of human and robot would theoretically be the ultimate test subject.

Orange and Blue had been her first attempt, and while it had been an interesting experiment, and the robots were suitable for testing purposes, it was far from complete success. But maybe she could approach the problem from another direction? Take a human and add technology, start with the basic design and improve upon it.

As Chell was apparently best the humanity had to offer, it was only logical to start with her DNA.

And so she had made the Cybernetic and Technological Humanoid Youngster. A clone of Chell, with some improvements, it's growth accelerated and then stopped at the physical age of about 7, as babies would likely have been about as interesting as test subjects as plants. This way she'd be old enough to walk and perform tasks, but still a child, so in theory her organic brain could adapt to the cybernetic components.

Then GLaDOS got to work, replacing some of the clone's brain matter with circuitry, shielding it with a mechanical headpiece that had an optic where the eye would have been. After some thought she also removed the left arm and upgraded it to metallic one, so the cyborg would have the advantage of added strength. She debated whether it would have been practical to replace all bones with a superior metallic frame, but as the test subject was still growing, it would get troublesome. And she could always add more robotic parts later.

Chell's reaction upon finding out about her little project had been more extreme than she had anticipated. Really, if anything, the human should have been happy that her DNA was finally good for something. And if she didn't want her genetic material to be used for science, she shouldn't have shed her DNA all over the place in various flaky and liquid forms

But, just like when GLaDOS had converted her car into scrap metal for turret production, she had disapproved this course of action for dumb reasons.

And yet when GLaDOS had graciously offered to terminate the project, she had disagreed with that too, despite the project being little more than a mindless puppet at that point.

In hindsight, GLaDOS should have anticipated Chell would get attached to the Chell.2. It was merely a biological response, no different from hunger or thirst. Or certain other needs GLaDOS found herself fulfilling ever since Chell had moved permanently to Aperture.

But, GLaDOS reasoned, it all turned out well in the end. This was just one more thing that tied Chell to Aperture, and so to her.

Even though she couldn't physically lock Chell up (look how well _that _had turned out in the past), she could still do so emotionally.

That's what humans did. (GLaDOS briefly wondered if Chell had managed somehow to make her dependent of herself, but quickly dismissed it. She was above being influenced like that. This was about science.)

If Chell had someone to direct all of her nurturing instincts on, it would be less likely she'd run away with some man who could impregnate her so she could have babies.

Similarly, if she'd have a Christmas-celebration in Aperture, it would satisfy that particular need.

Perfect.

She opened the wireless communication: 'CaTHY, come here.'

She could have simply linked to CaTHY's database to check what it said about the subject, to 'read' her mind, as it were.

But it was vital to the experiment she let her personality develop on its own. And Chell had been very strict about that, getting that _look _in her eyes that said 'I'm not going to give up until I get what I want', and making GLaDOS promise she would leave CaTHY's personality and thoughts alone.

"Yeah?" CaTHY stepped in the main computer room. GLaDOS could have, of course, just talked to her where-ever she was in the facility (Unless she had sneaked to the Old Aperture again.), but the AI thought speaking face to face (so to speak), made reading CaTHY's responses easier, and force her to focus on what she had to say.

"Good Morning, not 'yeah'." GLaDOS corrected. "And what are you looking for in your nose?"

"Nothing."

"Then stop picking it, no, don't wipe it on your blouse either."

GLaDOS mentally sighed. CaTHY _definitely _got that from Chell. "CaTHY, what do you think of Christmas?"

"Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by millions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season."

"Well done, you can recite the Aperture database. Which I wrote, so I know all that. What I asked is what you _think _of it."

"Why?"

This all would have been far easier if she could have just plugged her in and taken a little look at her files. But GLaDOS couldn't deny there was certain kind of weird appeal in navigating these kinds of childish conversations in order to get her to do what she wanted.

She decided to try motivating the cyborg. "Don't you want presents?"

That got her attention. "Yeah, can I have night vision? Or new plating on my robot arm? You promised."

"I said that I might get to it, if I have time. Your arm is perfectly functional."

"But it's ugly. And it would be nice if it had a built-in power drill."

"CaTHY, I suggest you make a list of upgrades you'd like." GLaDOS had an idea. "Or actually, you should write a letter to Santa."

"Gladdy, Santa isn't real."

"Really? In that case, I guess you won't be getting any presents. Of course I know Santa is made up. It's a thing, we pretend."

CaTHY nodded, thoughtful. "Does Mommy think Santa is real?"

"I hope not."

"She does think weird things sometimes. I think it's because she has just a human-brain."

"Anyway, has she mentioned Christmas?" GLaDOS inquired.

The cyborg shook her head. "No. Maybe she isn't Christian?"

GLaDOS hadn't thought of that. She wasn't certain of Chell's religious convictions. She had told her once "An all-seeing omnipotent power that will control your life? I think that job's already taken.", but GLaDOS didn't know how sarcastic she had been. It was sometimes difficult to tell.

In any case, many cultures had winter celebrations, and based on Chell's cultural background, she most likely celebrated the holiday in a secular way, at least.

"A celebration such as Christmas doesn't need to have a religious aspect to it." GLaDOS told CaTHY. "Similarly, you don't have to believe in Santa to write to him. It will be fun."

"Yeah." She didn't seem totally convinced.

"However, since it's not Santa who will be evaluating your behavior to decide whether you deserve to have gifts, but me, you might want to follow my instructions. And leave your nose alone."

* * *

Returning from work, Chell parked her car on of the snowy wheat-field in the abandoned barn she used as a garage and walked to the shack that hid the main entrance to Aperture.

She didn't really need the job for financial reasons, but it was important for her to have that, something outside of Aperture. And the feeling she was pulling her own weight.

But since she didn't have any qualifications, her options were rather limited, and at the moment she was working for a small cleaning firm.

She didn't mind. At least she felt she was doing something useful, and didn't have to spend too much time with people. It was nice to have people around every once in a while, but she disliked crowds, and had difficulty communicating with people, beyond any linguistic limitations. It had been somewhat of a shock for her to realize she was more at home with robots and turrets than fellow human beings.

When she entered the main computer room, the first thing she noticed was a tree.

She had thought GLaDOS had given up on testing on plants.

But upon further inspection, she realized it was a fir tree, and that the various cables wrapped around it weren't a part of some test to see if you could strangle trees to death, but decorations.

As she stood there, CaTHY ran to the tree, carrying an assortment of broken turret parts.

"Hi Mommy! " She greeted her. "Should we put a turret on top?"

So it was CaTHY who had decorated it. That explained why all the decorations were at the bottom of the tree, only as high as she could reach.

It seemed she was well aware of this flaw. "Can you help me put the decorations on higher? I'm asking for a new arm for Christmas, one that can reach higher, much much higher. Have you written to Santa?"

"Oh, it's the family breadwinner. Had fun scrubbing the toilets?" GLaDOS greeted Chell.

"Is that a Christmas-tree?"

"Oh, that." The robot turned to the tree, as if only now noticing it. "No, we just felt like dragging in a tree and decorating it for completely unrelated reasons."

"That was sarcasm." CaTHY added helpfully. "It's a Christmas-tree. Or a holiday-tree, if you'd like."

"We are celebrating Christmas?" Chell had of course known the holiday was approaching, but she hadn't much thought of it in association with Aperture.

"Yes," GLaDOS told her, and added, as an afterthought, "and Chell, just so you know, you don't have to get me anything. It's a children's holiday. Just get something for CaTHY. I won't be expecting _anything _from you."

_Translation; If you won't get me a present I will act all hurt for months. _

* * *

Chell sighed, aimlessly wandering the streets of the nearby town, looking at the shop windows decorated with elves and fake snow, other late Christmas shoppers briskly walking in the slowly falling snow.

_What do you get for an AI who has everything?_

Certainly not anything from Aperture, it all basically already belonged to her.

So something she'd buy with the money she got from her job. It was actually a decent amount. Since she didn't spend money on rent or food, or even entertainment, she was able to let her little nest-egg grow steadily.

_GLaDOS already has all the books ever written by humanity, maybe puzzles? Something science-related? _

Chell decided to concentrate first on getting something for CaTHY, that was a far easier task.

She had showed interest in having a pet, but Chell was afraid it would end up as a test-subject. But having a cat or a dog would be nice, and she could teach her to take care of it…

Maybe later. CaTHY would probably like to try her hand in creating her pet in the lab as a part of her bio-engineering-studies anyway.

* * *

Chell, carrying shopping bags full of food, smiled at the sight of a festive main computer room. It seemed the decorations she had brought from her last trip to town had been put to use by CaTHY, ATLAS and P-Body. The two testing robots got along well with CaTHY and often joined in her little projects. It wasn't surprising, they were very childlike, after all, and it was good for CaTHY to have friends that were close to her mental age. Whatever that might have been.

At the moment they were adding more Christmas wreaths and paper snowflakes on the walls. In addition to those, flashing Christmas lights were hug from the ceiling and CaTHY's workstation in the corner of the room had been turned into a nativity scene made of testing equipment. "Hello," the Jesus-turret laying on a bed of storage cubes greeted Chell.

Even GLaDOS had tinsel wrapped around her 'neck', looking like she was wearing a neon blue feather boa.

"Merry Christmas!" CaTHY spun around, showing off her handiwork. "I'm an angel!" She was wearing bright green cardboard wings decorated with shiny stickers and a wreath on her head.

"Oh, you're cute!" Chell signed. "Did you make it yourself?"

CaTHY nodded. "Yeah. Gladdy provided constructive criticism, but I mostly ignored it."

"Dressing up as an angel is not exactly traditional." GLaDOS pointed out.

"So?" CaTHY asked. "Traditions have to start from somewhere. Angels are pretty well established as a central part of Christmas iconography, so I'll just apply it in a slightly different way."

"I think it's a great idea." Chell nodded approvingly.

"I made the wings myself. Oh, wings! It would be nice to have wings! Can I add that to my wish-list?"

"You are too heavy to fly with wings of that size." GLaDOS pointed out.

"I know that! But if I had very big ones-"

"That would be impractical."

"But maybe I could remove them when I get inside? Could I have removable parts, like different tools for my hand?"

Chell left GLaDOS and their daughter to discuss optimal wing-design and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

"So, Merry Christmas."

Chell was answered with "Merry Christmas!" from CaTHY and cheerful bleeps from ATLAS and P-Body. The main computer room had been decorated with candles, and middle of it, Chell and the robots had set up a table with their Christmas feast.

All of the guests had been seated, even though only Chell and CaTHY could actually eat the food. But it had felt impolite to leave the others out.

Even Wheatley had been left out of his mud-supervising duty from the depths of the facility. He regularly shot nervous glances at the huge robot hanging from the ceiling, but it seemed GLaDOS had decided torture and Christmas spirit didn't go well together.

"So, presents?" CaTHY asked after finishing her plum pudding and mildly burned ginger-bread cores.

"Um, yeah, is the Santa coming?" Wheatley asked.

"Santa isn't real." CaTHY informed him condescendingly.

"He isn't?"

GLaDOS, having pretended all day Wheatley didn't exist, seemed to only now notice the British core. "You _actually _thought that a fat man in red flies around the world breaking in people's houses and leaving gifts?"

"N-no! I was just thinking we should pretend for CaTHY's sake…"

"Don't worry, Wheatley! I can be a gift-giving angel!" CaTHY skipped to the Christmas tree that held the gifts underneath. "This one is for me!"

"Why don't you distribute the gifts, and once you're done, we open them at the same time?" Chell suggested.

"Did I get anything?" Wheatley asked.

"You want to know what my gift for you is ?" GLaDOS asked him sweetly.

"N-no?"

GLaDOS ignored his reply. "Your life. I could choose to terminate you now, but I won't. Merry Christmas."

"Th-thanks."

"There is a real gift for you, though." CaTHY held out a small box for him, "And a second one! This is from me, I made it myself. I can open it for you."

"Thanks, Sweetie."

"Oh, you got me a present? I thought we agreed not to?" GLaDOS took the small package with her claw. Chell shrugged, her attention seemingly focused on P-Body fitting the duck-shaped hat CaTHY had knitted on Wheatley.

GLaDOS opened her present. "An USB drive."

"What did you get?" CaTHY looked up from her set of watercolors and other art-supplies Chell had gotten her.

The small USB stick disappeared somewhere in GLaDOS's robot body. "Pictures?"

Chell nodded. "Pictures from the apartment I used to live in, the library I frequent, from my work, around the town. I thought you might want to see what it's like, my life outside. I also kept a diary for a week and wrote small things I happened to think during the day."

"Can I go to see your workplace sometime? Or the library? Is there a museum?" CaTHY asked.

"If GLaDOS thinks it's okay." Chell looked at the AI.

"It might- it might be possible. Just for a short time, and you'd need to be careful. Anyway, Chell, what's that small box, I wonder? What did Santa get you?"

Chell had gotten a beanie, scarf, a coat and a cloak, all knitted by CaTHY (Chell suspected she was afraid her human mother would freeze to death outside), a vaguely elephant-shaped rock from ATLAS and P-Body, and a promise from Wheatley that he had made a statue out of mud for her, but she'd have to come and see it in his workplace. But it was the smallest box she was guessing GLaDOS meant.

Inside was a white metallic ring. She lifted it to the light. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like the ring was made of countless white and some black cables and tiny panels that formed a delicate pattern.

"You are supposed to wear it on your third finger on the left hand." GLaDOS said.

"Are you proposing to her?" Wheatley asked, dumbfounded.

"Of course not, moron," GLaDOS said. "Why would we need to go through a ceremony like that? This is just a practical gift. It has a transmitter on it that lets me tell where you are at all times. And it has the added function of showing that you're taken. "

"So, basically, you're married?" Wheatley asked. "Congratulations! That is, if Chell accepts. Blimey, this is awkward, if she is planning to say no-"

A glare from GLaDOS shut him up.

Chell slipped on the ring with a smile.

"Thanks, GLaDOS. It's pretty."

"I'm gonna draw you now." CaTHY announced, spreading her art-supplies on the floor.

"Maybe later. I believe we haven't sung any Christmas carols yet? I think that's a required part of Christmas celebrations." GLaDOS noted.

CaTHY sung few songs, after which GLaDOS played records over the audio-systems in Aperture, cheery tunes echoing in the vast facility. ATLAS and P-Body joined in with a bleeping remix of jingle-bells, and they found out that Wheatley was almost totally tone-deaf, but made up for it with an unrivaled enthusiasm.

Finally CaTHY started to get sleepy, and so ATLAS and P-body left, carrying Wheatley, promising to get him to his work-station as soon as possible.

Chell gently pulled the sleepy cyborg up from the floor. "I'll go put CaTHY to bed. This was fun. Will we do it again next year?"

"Hm, maybe." GLaDOS answered. "However, I am planning for something in a few weeks. "

"New Years celebration?"

"Explosions. For science."

"So, a new Years celebration."


End file.
